Who Carries The Water

WHS CARRIES THE WATER

AGENTS

TENGE

WEATHER

play, diary, fairy tale, theory, letter, declaration,
travelogue, news, poetry, report, oral history,
tongue twister, record, dirge

River, Chorus of Goats, Peasant, Oak, Spruce, Stick,

State Company, Pipe, Concrete, Citizens, Comrade, Friend,

Police, Prosecutor!? Lawyer, Ghost, Committee, Witch, Artist,
Academician, Translator, Raster, Student, Feminist, Parliamentarian
Philosopher, Poet, Traveler, Psychologist, Writer, Pepug Bird

mountain, valley, river, forest, village, shrine, cemetery, cave,
bed, spring, square, •ustody, state office, meeting room,
workshop, dan, run-of-the-ri ver-tvpe small hydroelec trie power pi
plant (SHF)

unpredic table

layered and infinite

TIME

(At the cemetery)

Ghost

Pepug Bird
Translator
Artist
Comrade

Chorus of Goats

When the bridge burned the pepug Bird began to. coo,''

pepo keko. Kan kist? Ki kist. Kan gut? Mi §iit, AA

pepo keko. Who killed? I killed. Who washed? 5 k I washed.

Is there a. depiction of the Pepug Bird?

She is not visible. You only hear her voice by.t it is better
if you don't.

Alakir Valley is being devoured by 8 run-of-the-river-type
SHB AAA projects placed like a ladder one after the other, whicfcu
takes Alakir River into pipes from its source to the sea shore
to dry out the common life source of all the beings in the
valleyf AAA Pepug Bird begins to coo.

A D ersim 38 Belgeseli Dersim 38 Documentary . gayan Demirel. 2012.

Pepug Bird, who coos in Zazaki, "is the expression of troubles, pain and
longing in Dersim mythology."

Ozcan, Mesut. Oykuleriyle Dersim Agitlari-I Dersim Dirges with Their Stories
Ankara: Kalan Publishing, 2002.

AAA, "Being run-of-the-river structures and requiring neither dammingg nor
reservoir, SHPs are respectable energy solutions of the post-carbon transition
era. They are eligible for generous World Bank green energy funds, qualified
for Renewable Energy Credits to be exchanged on carbea markets and promoted
as environmentally friendly alternatives to large dams by international
environmental PGOs such Pavers International and Greenpeace, as well as by
the Turkish State. Following the privatization of energy production through.,
a series of legi lotions, AKP government launched an aggressive program
targeting 2000 small (and large) hydropower plants by 2023, centennial of
T urkish Republic,"

Erensu, Sinan, and Ozan Kahraman. "The Work of a Few Trees: Gezi, Politics
and space." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (2015)

AAAA> Qioted from the declaration made by Alakir Karde§ligi (Solidarity)
through teir social media, account in 20 14 .

Choruj* of Goats

Crone Who.

Went to the SHP A

Peasant
Peasant
Crone Who
Went to the SHP
Peasant

Chorus of Goats

Crone Who
Went to the SHP

Peasant
Crone Who Went
to the SHF’
Peasant

Chorus of Goats
Police

Chorus of Goats

Feasant

Police

Crone Who
Went to the SHF

7 cranes. 3 luxury cars with tinted windows, trucks.

How many does that make? 35 vehicles.

We'll stand here. We'll lie on the ground. It's not like
they will run us over, they can't. AA
They can't ma.

What if they do?

Come on, they can't] Take this 3tick AAA . Can they?

They can't.

700 sold ier s. 100 special forces. 300 riot police*

400 private security. Hoxj many does that make? Exactly 1500,

We'll stand side by side, lock arms. We'll closerankn.

They can't make us budge. They'll never get through,
not for the life of me.

What if we are arrested?

It's not like txhey'll arrest me too 'Don't you have a. stick?

I do. They can't arrest us.

552 gas capsules. Many plastic bullets. 37 in custody,

5 under arrest. 32 days in prison.

First take the 05 year old ringleader.

300 sticks. 200 kei > chiefs AAAA , 12 banners, 2 bagpipes,

42 empty bottles of spray paint. 556 pieces of evidence.
Leave the stick at least] How should this old crone walk
without a stills?

The ringleader is not backing down. Take her for resisting
the police.

I'll give my life, I won't give up my water]

This is how the women, who stood guard in Ahmetler Village against the SHP
introduc ed thems elves .

"Obstruction of EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) information meetings)
preventing company vehicles from entering thevalleys, chasing ax/a y the company
officials they run into in the valleys) press statements with the participation
of the masses, rallies, marches, keeping guard in tents are the pillars of the
struggleagainst SHP in the region. In these demonstrations, the people are frequently
confronted by the security forces of both the companies and the state,"

Hamsici, Kahmut. "Karadeniz 'in imagin' Yenileyen leni Toplumsal Hareketler: HES Karsati
Mucadeleler | Emerging Social Movements That Renew The Image of The Blacksea: Anti -SHP
Struggles! .Iiarardi Karadeniz fThe Blacksea Tarnishedf. Ed, Ugur Birvol. Istanbul
Iletigim Publishing, 2012.

Hazelnut sticks_held oy the resisting women when they are confronted with armed
forces and the company, are also used extensively in daily life as a support for the
body, for plants, for herding and beating carpets.

Yellow kerchiefs are still used by women of the Log Valley and have become
a symbol of the struggles against SHF during the Log Valley resistance in 2010.

(Everybody in their beds)

Friend

Lawyer

Pennant

Feminist

Oak

Stick

Academician

Citizen

Student

Comrade

Artist

Ghost

Poet

Where is the friend?

In jail.

Where’s the state?

Inhsd bed with company , aiding and abetting.
Where ' s the river?

Looking for its bed.

Where ’ s the c cmpany ?

At the river, devouring its bed.

Where's the comrade?

Lying in her grave.

Where ' s the poet?

Hosting nightmares in her bed.

The river eats away and deepens its soft bed

I take shelter there

They build cities with sand

They excavate frcm the dried up rivers

The ghost of the lost riverbeds

Hauntfe urban citizens

I make myself a, red spring

I sift calamities from the nightmares

I lay in the water

Peasant

Psychologist

Peasant

Psychol *gist

Spruce

Psychologist

Spruce

Psychologist

Philosopher

Psychologist

Philosopher

Psychologist
Chorus of Goats

These rivers are the reason why our BlackSea folk speak
so loud, as though they are fighting.

But this friend doesn't speak at allb

She has been tongue-tied ever since the river was drawn

into the pipe,

Itls not a clinical diagnosis butwhat we have here is a
case of the legendary psych asthenia; the organism and
the background are mimicking each other,'' It might be
a symptom that emerges with the instinct of survival.

This friend also lost her marbles. She cones here and
constastly swears at the compensation water left on
the bed. She says, "They are releasing the company's
saliva as compensation water."

Okay. I've got this on record. I'll attend to youas well
on my next visit.

I might not be here on your next visit. Since the humidity
is decreasing we'll he gone.

The reason for your problem is the sane as that of the
friends suffering from the fact that there is no longer
any fog. They said they'd seek shelter in fairy tales.
Ferhaps you can go with them. What is your problem?

Time doesn't flow; it percolates. This means precisely
that it passes and it doesn't pass.

Why does this pose a problem for you?

When the river flows in the pipe rather than its bed
there ik no longer percolation. And I'l«se the metaphors
that allow me to conceptualize time.

If you direct your stream of consciousness to the mainstream,
you can avoid the need for new metaphors.

Psychological tensions lead one to roformism and later
to revisionism.

A Calllois, Roger. "Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia.. " Minotaure (1935). Rpt,
in October 31 . Winter ( 1984 )

** With the climate change caused in the valleys by the SHFs, the fog, which is a
major part of their lives, is disappearing as_ the pjeople we met at Solakli Valley
voiced their concern. Birkan Yiiksel and Mahir Oskar associate the rich tradition
of fairy tales and oral culture in the Black Sea valleys with the phenomenon of the fog.
Yiiksel, Birkan, "Vadinin Karanlik Kadinlari : Cadniar ((Dark ycmen of The Valley; Witched
Yegilden Maviye/Karadeniz'den Kadm Portreleri \ From Green to Blue / Portraits of
Women from the Black Seat. Ed. gelik, Leyla, and Elif Yildirim. Ankara; Lika Publishing,
2015.

Ozkan, Mahir. Hemgin Oykuleri ^Hemgin Strides j . Istanbul; Aras Publishing, 2014.

Serres, Michel. "Science and the Humanities; The Case of Turner." Substance
26.2 (1997).

C«nrade

We turned a blind case with m discernable entrance or exit
into a publishing house. We'd show it to you if it were
close by. Because we couldn't fix the mimeograph we brought
here, the publishing house couldn't become operational.*

(A little time passes, the sound of the mime •graph is heard.)

Prosecutor Bring the evidence*

Declaration THd BASIC COPT. AUCTION, PEBIAiH COITIJIDICTIOPS AID

THE PRU C IP AL C 01 TIAB ICT I 01 IE 00E SOCIETI

* Quoted with a little tampering.

Orugoglui} Kuzaffer. Tohum Seed. . Istanbul? Babek Publishing, 2010.

Traveler

Oak

Traveler

Oak

Traveler

Chorus of Goats

...It wasn't even two days before the pashas returned
to Istanbul with nothing to show for and their heads
bowed down, and told the sultan that Dersim had a. nature
full of stupendous and fearsome mountains and forests)
that each and every one of the trees and branches In the
forests was a soldier who fought against the Ottoman army
without retreating a single step* and that so long as those
forests stood Dersim would remain invincible,
lie are determined. We will live independently.

This time the sultan decided to burn down the Dersim forests,
denude all those glorious mountains. To reach his goal, he
brought gas from Batumi tod Dersim. After everything was
ready, when they spilled the gas in the foreststarting from
Kuzucan and Qar§ancak and set it on fire...

We are resistant. Burn us and we will grow again.

Then something happened that surprised everyone; this time
nature stood up against theOttomans. The sky grew cloudy, the
mountains darkened and then a terrifing storm, hail and rain,
accompanied by heavy winds, averted the Ottoman's efforts."

The oak gives its branches, the goats their hide to the traveler
for him to make a kelek raft. The kelek, also with the help
of the wind, carries the traveler to the other shore of the
security dam.""

" Quoted with a little tampering.

Antranik. Dersih Seyahatname Dersim Travelogue j. Istanbul: Aras Publishing, 2012.
Rpt. of Yeritsyan, Antranik. Deitoim: Canabarhortutyun yev Degakrutyun Dersim;
Travel and Topography . Tiblisi: 1900.

"" "Throughout the 1990s, the Turkish state has tried to supress the Kurdish
Movement by depopulating the villages that were the hinterland of PKK, and
burning down the forests which were the shelter, hide out and protection areas
of the guerilla, but has failed to succeed. With the 2000s, the state has devised
a new practice to bring the Kurds and the Kurdish geography under its control.

With an concept introduced to the literature by the Turkish state and unprecedented
in the world, it has constructed "security dams" in Kurdistan. "

Arslan, Serhat. "Kiirdistan'da Doga/Ekoloji Katliatn f” The Massacre of Mature /Ecology
in Kurdistan] " Toplurn ve Kuram 9. Spring (2014).

Chorus of Goats

S tate /Company
Wanen Pouring
Water from One Pot
to the Other
State/Co mpany

Worsen Pouring
Water from One Pot
to the Other
State/C cmpany

Women Pouring Water
from 4ne Pot
to the Other
S tate/C ompany

Chorus of Goats

In the valley where life is still possible, while huge fish
swim in the river, while beans and sticks are passed from
hand to hand, and while those that are passed never remain
in one single hand*..

These actions do not benefit the country.

Do trees yield fruit for Suleyman's benefit?

We've come with pickaxes and shovels in our hands. We'll put
the golden cuffs on the Qoruh River* A

Have you ever tasted a mother-in-law's fist? AA

Baklava was another source if energy. Andnow this is

realized with water and wind. This will further sweeten

our palate. It will also sweeten the palate *f the industralist.

Becaube this energy is the primary element of industry. AAA

yIu wouldn't be satisfied if you devoured the world Suleyman.

We are changing the approach of "The water flows the Turk
stares" to "The water flows the Turk aoes«" AAAA
Fish change, people change, fish have fewer spots now,
this can be observed -because a human lifetime is long enough
for a few generations of fish to live. But the fish do not
observe and report on the direction in which humans are
changing. Sticks, side by side, lined up behind one another,
stand still without moving. It rains, bean plants climb
cn the sticks.

Statement by the President of the time, at the sod- turning ceremony of the
Eeriner Dam consticucted in Artvin.

"QBruh'a Altnn Kelepge (Bolden Cuffs for Qoruh; " Hiirriyet 27 April 1998: Hiirriyet web
http//hurarsiv.hurriyot.com.tr/goster/ha T*er.aspx?id=I6065 .

AA Traditional woodcut pattern titled "Mother-in-lawis fist"

Statement by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Hilmi Giiler in 2008.
Haiasici, Mahmut. Dereler ve isyanlar Rivers and Uprisings; . 3rd ed. Istanbul:
NotaBene Publishing, 2012,

AAAA Statement by the Prime Minister of the time Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2010.

Adaman F. , Bengi Akbulut, Mur. at Arsel. "Turkiye'de Kalkinmac iligi Yeniden Okumr-k:
HES'ler ve Degigen Doga-Toplum iligkileri ^.Reinterpreting Developmentalism in
Turkey: SHPs and the Transforming Relations of State-Society-EnvironmenD Sudan
Sebeplers Kalkinma ve Qevrecilik Kiskacmda Hidro-Enerji ve HES Kargiti Miicadelenin
Ekoloji Politigi fHydro-Power Between Development and Environmentalism and the
Political Ecology of the Struggle Against Hydro-Power Plants, i Ed. C, Aksu, E. Evren
and S. Erensu. Istanbul: iletigim Publishing, 2015.

Charus of Goats

State

Chorus

friend

The year: 1914- Despite extreme precipitation, floods in the
region and the Balkan War, Silahtaraga. Electric Power Flant
went into operation. On February II, electricrty was distributed
to Istanbul trams and the Dolmabahge Palace, where the Sultan
resided at the time, and on February 14 , to the city of
Istanbul. Therefore, for many years to come, February 14 was
celebrated as "Electricrty Da.y"'"''

Like a sensation reaching all nerve endings from ac enter, you
will reach every point of the homeland, electricity. I love
you so much that I feel you at every inch of my body,
of Goats Exactly 101 years later, while February 14 was by now ingrained
in minds as "Valentine's Day" , a friend returned home to his
place of birth from foreign lands. On February 14 , at a
mountaintop still without electricity, he slaughtered a ram.

I love too. I love so very much. Ten years I spent in foreign
lands \ every night I dreamt of these mountains, as if they
were calling me, I know, the mountains love us too, had they
not, could they embrace us as such? I want more than friendship
too, so much more. Mountains, I love you so

Once Upon a Time istanbul Ihotography Exhibition, Tu'nel, 2015.

Cammi ttee
Concrete

Pipe

Concrete

Having conducted the necessary investigations, we have fulfilled
our duty. Here, we submit our report.

"Wild goats have been observed, while drinking water from the
riveri Therefore, it is recommended that the site be declared
a conservation area." What, no wayj The harmed wilding have feet,
they will go elsewhere. Fish will go to higher altitudes with
fish lifts^J birds have wings* they'll fly away.'"

Honorable Minister, let's propose to implement the project
funded by the international company in another volley. They
track wild goats in the Wildlife Conservation Area with the
satellite transmitters they hang on their necks and conduct
the project without disturbing the goats''”' They should implement
this procedure, we'll announce it to the public via the media.

We won't have any more problems.

Honorable committee. I will kindly ask you to make revision in
this report. Your observations are accurate, however, I will
kindly request you to revise the measures to be taken to protect
wildlife in accordance with our recommendations.

* n, i§te Bakanliklarm Yaban Hayata Baki§i Perspective of the Ministries on Wild
Life Yapi.ccm.tr, 24 Jan. 2fI5. http://www.yapi.com.tr/haberler/ifete-
bakanliklarin-yaban-hayata-baki si_I280S6.html .

Adapted from the procedure in Aksu Valley recorded by Kahmut Hamsici.
Hamsici, Mahmut, Dereler Ve isyanlar Rivers and Uprisings . 3rd ed. Istanbul:
NotaBene Publishing, 2012.

Feminist

Ecological feminism suggests us to develop a relationship
with the world not as a resource to be exploited but as
an active subject. Let us discuss a quote from the text
we read. Vandana Shiva asks Itwari Devi, one of the agents
of the grassroots struggle against the mine in Nahi-Kala,

"What is your source of strength (shakti)?"

Itwari Shakti cranes to us from these forests and grasslands, we

watch them grow, year in and year out through their internal
shakti and we derive our strength from it. We watch our
rivers renew themselves and w© drink their clear, sparkling
water, that gives us shakti. We drink fresh milk, we eat ghee,
we eat food from •nr own fields. All this gives us shakti %

uc>ccKX/QCCCon:>ucxxxx_':xx

not just nourishment for the body but a moral strength,
that we are our own masters, we control and produce
our own wealth,*

Student Then, can we say that the women of Anatolia derive their

strength from the goat? The goat that dies of natural causes
or is killed for Its met continues to support life. Cheese,
buttermilk is made in bags of goatskin. It is used for carrying
water and floating the rafts called kelek. Though these practice
are near extinct, the bagpipe still continues to be a force
driving on the masses in protest marches against SHF.

Thfet goat along with the woman is among the agents of the
resistance.

Chorus of Goats Instead of moving from theory to practice, young and elderly

women start off from practice! Instead of trying to imbue
concepts with meaning, they grow strong by filling the goat
hides with air, water and corn.

A Shiva, Vandana. "The Shipko Women’s Concept of Freedom." Ecofeminism.
Ed. Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva. NY: Zed Books, 2014.

(The artist carries the letter from the artist into the text.)

12.11.2014, Istanbul

I looked at Bilge Karasu's “The Prey" again. You know the one where he draws the
link between lovihg and eatigg* The fisherman catches a fish to eat, the caught
fish swallows the fisherman's left arm. He remembers his encounter with, the
snake (the snake had scotched the boy),, he holds the snake and takes it to his
brotherb "We. are friends now" he says after the snake has gone. He carries the
snake and the fish too.

The paragraph on page 20 reminded me of Derrida's "Rams3 0 In the beginning, he
talks about his fsiendship with Gadamer end his death. He says that right from the
start of their friendship they both knew that one of them would have to remain
alone. In that case, the one who remains, who doesn't die, has to carry the other.

He has to carry both, his friend, and the dilogue that started in his presence. In
connection with this, the Paul Celan quote which the kecond part is built upon:

"The world isgone / I must carry you." How I an preoccupied with the situation
that necessitates one to "carry" the other.

T.o my understanding, it is not necessary for one of the two to have left for good im
order for one friend to cany the other in the frienship. Once one side sk
"indisposed" or is not "ready and waiting", the other carries her. This surely is not
something that, happens with the consent of both sides (Here I return to Agamben '3
essay, "friendship", where he says that the exchange of letters witn Nancy on frien&i
ship obscured perhaps even ended their friendship. He carries the person he calls
"my fbiend Jeain-’Luc Nancy" into the text. He has to carry his attitude, a past dialogue
to the tem he is whiting then, this he must do alone). Consent is manifested ever
so slightly in "The Prey" as veil. The fisherman does not consent. The sna ke-do.es
not consent, Tire lack of consent does not prevent them fncm b ec ami ng " f ri ends 2
(The reason I put the latter "friend" in quotation marks is because I. am talking
about a. Juxtaposition that also comprises the desire to eat/devour one another,
the desire to wound one another,)

If v,e are to take a look at our oun context, I would like to stop and c insider who
wants to eat whom and who carries whom® Now, wnat I am almost certain of ik
that, the state/ccmpany is making a move to eat the water, the land; — let's say the
raw material in general as they call it. The statg/company loves the raw material
very mu.ch^ cannot bare to leave it alone, wants to devour it. The state/c ompany
loves the people very much too, and expresses this. The s tate/c anpany is infatuated
with serving the people, it works for the people, despite the people. If this is
the case, then consent may spring to mind but there is no consent. ®ssx8±2fe8?£

As in the way the snake is carried from one place to another,
and the fish to be eaten by someone swallows the arm of the fisherman, the state/
company' too is so infatuated that it devours us and the water without seeking
consent c- The state/c cmpacy/f ijah want more than friendship. Hie human carries the
ri verbec au.se the river cannot press charges* In face of the body of rules/
regulations, representation of the river sari is delegated to the human, without
the consent of the river* The human feels that she has to carry the river and
volunteers to carry it. Last we ek^after the mine disaster, in Ermenek, I was
watching the news and I saw something horrible. One of the miners sprinted towards
the minister of industry and bellowed "My esteemed Minister", he tried to cling to
the minister and passed out. The minister didn't held the miner, frankly he didn't
bother tf Meanwhile.-, the g averment/ state/c rmpany absolutely dees not. carry the
human/people, it shamelessly mounts its arguement on the claim that it does*, but it
does not carry you as yo slip and fall, la that case, what ve encounter as an
artist, a human being, an individual in the society is much more horkif^ring than a
"friend" who contains enmity, violence and desire to devour. It is beyond a nightmare,
a ghastly indifference*

Does the river carry anyone? D oes the river eat anyone? Does the artist eat the river?
Dees the artist carry the river and the people?

fMrys of Goats

Academician

Peaent Woman
Academician
Peasant Wcman
Academician
Peasant Woman

Academician

Peasant Woman
Academician

Peasant Woman

Academician

Seme books are yet to be written* Because, if academicians
do not want a sufficient amount of time before interpreting
a phenomenon, they succumb, to their emotions.

There, we are here precisely for this reason, in*rder to
shorten thite waiting period and ripen the phenomenon in a
timely manner.. Using a traditional method we will render
the phenomenon applicable in a shorter period of time. Go on
auntie tell us about it.

First we sieve the cheese through the cheesecloth.

We bieve the phenomenon, yes.

Then we press it in this tube we made out of goatskin.

How much should we fill it?

There, by pressing harded and harder , we'll fill it as much as
it holds.

So, friends. ^Ve fill the concept with the phenckenon untiiL
it can hold n * more. And then auntie?

How we filled ijhe goatskin^ we are burying it in the earth.
So when wi 13- tips be ready? I mean how long should it
remain buri edf

In three mpntlp' time thiss will be delicious cheese.

You'll loV^ it.

Three months^ Yes, there. We've all heard it, right., friends?
We thank yrm auntie.

Hot. a.t all my child.

Peasant. Woman

Chorus of Goats
Artist
Ghost
Artist

Ghost

Peasant

Chorus of Goats

The artist settles on the peasant's farm to sketch
a landscape painting.

By identifying the local colors and characters, I will
ensure that our national art attains its authentic self**
Intellectual currents can generate a. sufficient head *f
water for the critic to install his p^wer station *n them.
Sritics, who realize the role of the artist in the development
of the country will fulfill this responsibility. It is a
noble mission bestowed upon the artist to descend down this
steep slope to the people.

That is not what I meant.

Sirs, that which looks like landscape and metaphor t* you
is my life space. >VAA Would you kindly clear off my valley?
After much water has flown under the bridge, the artist
will submit self-criticism.

Inspired by ^ the quotations from Kurullah Berk and Hasan Cemal in the following:

Erol, Turan, Murat_ Ural, Levent Qalikoglu, ilhan Berk, and Ferit Edgii. Yurt Gezileri
ve Yurt Res imleri 'f Travels Across The Country and Paintings of The Homeland"!. Istanbul:
mUi Reasurans Aru Gallery Publications, 1998.

Walter Benjamin. "Surrelism: The.Last Snaphot of the European Intelligentsia".
Son Bak®§ta A§k fJLove at Last Right!. Ed. Eurdan Giirbilek. 6th ed. Istanbul*

Metis Publishing, 2012.

"In terms of the extent to which these highly diverse mobilizations were able to
develop a cornaon political lexicon, one humble yet powerful phrase stands out:
yagam alani (life space). Prior to Gezi, this catch phrase had been circulating
among urban activists against urban transformation projects and rural activists
ag ai ns t extras 1 1 on , construction and energy production projects. Closely associated
yet different from the increasingly popular concept of the ficcmmons" yasam alani conn*te s
spaces of refuge that have maintained a high level of autonomy from the value circuits
of capital accumulation. It also has aonnotations of a safe space to breathe, enjoy
and express oneself. The notion of yagam alani not only enabled articulation* between
myraid grievances against spatial diodsxtaassastwgaK Interventions but also helped
erode, if not collapse, imagined divisions between the urban and the rural,"

Erensu , Si nan, and Ozan Karaman. "The Work of a Few Trees: Gezi, Politics and Space."
Internata onal Journal of Urban and Regional Research (2015) »

Wri ter

Those s who realize that they don't have to stand where they
stand by \ja.j of radical changes, desire to reject authority
and be a headless body, question their \/ork'3 comradeship
with themselves and nature will not be able to do these alone,

(Turns around and looks at the ghosts of dead writers.)

Writer Even if I will climb this mountain for my own freedom, I need

your help tc M able to do that,. That is why I will carry you
within these quotations of mine, inside the nails with which.

I will cling to the soil and the rocks,

(Sh draws quotation marks with her naiUi in the ground and points to at the
gap between them.)

Writer There, exactly right in there. I will do this sometimes

to carry on climbing and sometimes not to fall. Do you consent?

(Without waiting for a reply, the writer turns around and starts to climb.,
makes quotation marks around the plages where her feet must stand firm,* )

* 3!,«-*it was a violation of my quotation marks, the quotation marks that made me
a reference to myself,”

Inspector, Clarire, The Passion According to GH» EY: New Directions, 2013,

•Lotus of Goats

The sins passing from the person to the river, do they intermingle
when the goat goes down to drink waterfrom the river? When the
water that carries the sins and the nightmares passes through
the pipes and power plants to be -carried into homes as electricity
do the sins and the' nightmares***-
Goa.t Lxcuse me, I don't want to be no scapegoat.* How fair do you thihk

it ik for me to be included so much against ray will in a story
that is not a natural part df my life?

Artist You are right Goat. But how can we ever help you?

Goat If I had hands I would take off these red rags on my head,

tie them on those carobs.* But how could I, I don't have
hands. You have hands my Arkist Friends. Maybe you will untie
these bins from my horns and tie them on those carobs
for me.

Artist And what if someone asks what sin did the carobs commit to

deserv this?

■ Literally translated, "carobB in Turkish is "goat's horn".

** "14 cuts a rather sorrowful figure — as Holman Hunt showed in his painting
'The Scapegoat'— abandoned ina desolate landscape with red rags tied to its horns.
As the rags fade away with the sun, it is believed that the sins will be fobgiven. '
Campbell, Charlie. Scapegoat; A History of Blaming Other People. Istanbul; Ayrinti
Publishing, Z0I3.

(Fear of drying out has e-veryone in its grip.)

Pepug Bird
Translator
Witch

Translator

Ensemble

Witch

Translator

Ensemble

Witch

Chorus of Goats

Master

Peasant

Poet

Comrade

Citizen

Academician

Chorus of Goats

Lawyer

Parliamentari an
Academician

Comrade

Pepo keko. Kam kxst? Ki kist. Kam §iit? Mi yiit.

Pepo keko. Who killed? I killed. Who washed? Iwashed,

First let’s remove the fear from the heart and lay it to rest
in earth. On the kerchiefs thrice you shall say "Ambuot kuka,
vordali ked kuka, demdembali".

Hurricane is coming thundering, river is caning thumping,

Ambuot kuka, vordali ked kuka, demdembali.

Ambuot kuka, vordali ked kuka, demdembali.

Ambuot kuka, vordali ked kuka, demdembali.

Now touch your chest and say thrice "Gove tane, sirdit vaxe
dage".

Cow, ayran, instead of the fear of your heart.

Gove, tane, sirdit vaxe dage.

Gove, tane, sirdit vaxe dage,

Gove, tane, sirdit vaxe dage.

Now everyone throw the kerchiefs on the floor'*

The witch, warded off the fear, gone, it's on her. Since the
sticks are responsiole for the struggle, if the company were
to take away all the sticks onenight, what would beans and pg-ayrte-
people do without sticks?

The madder plants used for dyeing secrete and store antidotes
in order to survive where they are. We must seek our own
antidote.

For our people, what keeps them alive is sacred. We must
remember and remind of what is sacred.

Love is the most anarchic resistance. We must exalt love'

It is deceptive to think of personal love in such a situation.

Our only salvation lies in biological and cultural inventory.

If tangible cultural heritage and oral culture are recorded
in wri tiing they will have to take that into consideration
while drafting the EIA reports.

The report to be drafted in order to prevent the sticks fran
becoming the scapegoat is funded by selling goats. How can
those people, who do not have sticks or goats but only reports
continue carrying the river?

Carrying our struggle to the legal platform is becoming
meaningless. The law? are constantly changing.

The electoral threshold''’* is causing deoxygenization among
the oppos i ti on , . .

(Taking off her academician hat and putting on her activist
hat) This cannot be resolved on paper. We must take to the
streets in masses*

Let ! s go then]

Adapted from^tiie story titled ”Korku Duasn” Prayer Against Fear e Ozkan
Mahir* Hemgin Oykiileri Hemgin Stories e Istanbul: liras Publishing*, 2014*
Literally translated^ n elec tonal threshold” in Turkish is ^electoral dam”*

(In a meeting rom, artists submit their self-criticism to the audience.)

Much water has flown under the fridge of history since the attempt to create
a national artistic style inspired by local motifs through sending artists to
Anatoli a s a cultural policy implemented by the single party regime in the 1930s.

Our research and production process has been shaped by what we. have learned
from the autonomous and dissenting ways of life produced by the struggle against
the construction of run-of r the-river-type SHPs in numerous valleys #f Anatolia
since 1998. In 2015, as artists moving in the Anatolian landscape, the burden
of all the denials of the Republic of Turkey, the weight of the violence
inflicted by the state and the •i"tnpsnies in order to devour the ways of life
it could noti tame, and the art historical strain of the method and materials
we chose were laid on our shoulders. Even though we have leaned on the stick
the goat, the witch, the women, the river, the mountain, theory, local stories
and the struggle, we nay not have been able to carry this burden we were subjected to.
Here, we submit our self-cririci3m with the awareness that we are agents of
a. struggle put up to defend life. Declaring in advance that we nay not have

een able to carry this weight, we welcome the discussions it will generate.

With love and hope that rivers will flow freely...

We thank the friends who guided us on l>ur journeys from the city to the valleys:
the peopl e who graciously shared their ways of life in the valleys, their resistance
stories and concerns,; those who devoted their time for us to be able to understand
the local codes of and memory borne by the geoeraphies we visited the academicians w
who keep record of the struggle and propose theoretical approaches the literary
texts' that inspire us, the masters who made it possible for us t* learn and practice
the crafts we carried into our work, those who offered their skills and experience
for making the mime#gra.ph operate onal j all our friends who shared our production
process j thise who labored fir and supported the production and exhibition of the •
work, the mountain, the rock, the water, all living beings who make life possible,

Fatima Belkis and iz Oztat
2015

Copyleft

This text has been written to accompany the installation titled 3Who carries
the Water? and has ieen reproduced with a mimeograph.

Translated frcmt Turkish by Irazca Giray and Liz Ergevik iimado.